Real Estate SEO 101: Back to the basics

No matter if you’re new to real estate or a top producing veteran, you know firsthand the importance of getting more traffic to your website. With prospects increasingly beginning their home search journey online, you have to find away to be found in that search. It’s time to get back to the basics with a brief overview of search engine optimization (SEO) and how it can help boost traffic to your real estate website.

So, what is SEO?

SEO is an ongoing practice of improving how your website ranks in search engine results, giving you an increase in the quality and quantity of organic (free) website traffic.

Why should you care about SEO on your real estate website?

The goal of SEO is to get your website to rank high by tweaking factors known to affect your search engine standing and to make your web pages more attractive than other competing websites.

As those in need question search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!, SEO increases your website’s chances of providing them with the answer. Specifically for real estate pros, it could be the difference between a home buyer finding what they’re looking for on your site or a competitor’s.

Furthermore, online search has become an increasingly important part of lead generation, with 44% of recent buyers ranking online search as their first step in the buying process. So, when it comes to your website, you want to make sure that you’re nailing SEO.

Where should you begin with SEO?

If you’re ready to leverage SEO to drive relevant traffic to your website, here’s where you start:

1. Get familiar with commonly used SEO lingo

Ever heard someone mention internal linking, URL structure, or metadata? These are just a few of the commonly used SEO terms. In familiarizing yourself with SEO it’s best to not let the jargon stop you from optimizing your site. Here is a list of 10 essential SEO terms:

2. Start blogging

You have to start blogging! There are only so many places on your website to embed searchable terms and blogging is also a great way to deliver value to your target audience. But, there is steep competition! Worldometer calculates over 3.7 million in published blog posts each day. To stand out against the crowd, focus on the following:

Pick relevant and timely topics - Check out these blogging topics to spark interest with your target audience. You can also find free shareable content for prospects and clients in the Resources hub.

Keep it local - Visit realtor.com/local to zoom in on your specific market and highlight the regions and cities you service.

3. Make your website more user friendly

We’ve all landed on a website that did not work or where nothing could easily be found. For consumers, something as simple as your website’s layout can affect their experience and keep them from coming back.

Having a user-friendly website is required if you want your real estate website to be successful. Here are 5 quick tips to instantly improve your websites user friendliness:

Make your site mobile responsive - If your website doesn’t display well on mobile, it won’t get a second look. Check your site’s responsiveness here.

Make your site easy to navigate - Consumers love knowing where to go to find what they need. Your website’s menu plays a key role in assisting them. Visitors should be able to access all important information right from your menu.

Don’t hide important information - Don’t make your visitors dig for things that should be front in center. As a real estate pro, your contact information, online reviews and available listings should be readily available.

While there is no one-and-done approach to SEO, taking these steps will increase your website’s visibility and assist you in lead generation. Stick with it and continue to position your website as a premier solution provider to your target audience.

About the Author

Adria Brodie has worked at realtor.com® for over seven years. She is the SEO Content Manager on the in-house SEO team within the Product Organization. As the SEO Lead for different aspects of realtor.com®, Adria partners with product managers to fully optimize the business and integrate SEO into the foundation of all pages. Her focus areas include governance, content, News & Insights, realtor.com® Core pages, and B2B/B2C marketing.